Most snack foods currently have flavoring and some coloring coated on the surface of the snack food. This allows the manufacturer to prepare a single, unflavored snack base and, in separate operations, apply a variety of flavorings and/or colors to meet perceived consumer preferences. Most of the flavoring and coloring components are powders or small particles that are attached to the surface of the base food composition using a food grade mastic or adhesive. A widely used adhesive for attaching flavors and colors to snack foods is a food grade fat or oil applied by spraying, drizzling or dipping the base snack food. Powdered or particulate flavoring and coloring may then be applied to the base snack food containing the added fat or mastic.
A number of snack foods and their nutrient profiles are included in The USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 27. For the purposes of this description, foods that are included in the USDA Database will be referred to as USDAxxxxx where the xxxxx is the five digit number assigned to the food by the USDA. Table 1 is a sampling from the USDA Database and is included here as part of the demonstration of the benefits of the invention.
A typical snack food may contain 15% to 40% fat from the combination of food ingredients other than oil, oil added as a functional ingredient such as shortening, oil used in cooking and oil applied as a mastic or adhesive for flavoring and color attached to the snack food surface. One intention of the improved adhesive of this invention is to provide one 28 gram serving of the flavored and colored snack food with less than 4 grams of fat (less than 14% w/w), and preferably less than 2 grams of fat (less than 7% w/w).
Grain ingredients lack certain essential amino acids. The amount of protein that may be claimed as meeting Daily Intake requirements, or a Percentage of the Daily Value (% DV), is typically only 30% to 60% of the protein content of the snack food.
International standards for calculating protein quality based on the Protein Digestibility Corrected Amino Acid Score, PDCAAS are referenced in 21 CFR 101.9(c)(7), Millward (2012), U.S. Food and Drug Administration Guidance for Industry (2013) and the FAO Food and Nutrition Report 92 (2011).
For the purposes of this invention, and from the references above, Table 2 shows the amounts of Essential Amino Acids required for each 1.0 gram of protein that is suitable for human maintenance and growth. To the extent that any of the Essential Amino Acids are at a level less than 100% of the required amount, the protein content of the food that may be counted as a portion of the Daily Intake. or % DV must be reduced by the same percentage. For the purposes of this invention, this is the Amino Acid Score. To simplify PDCAAS calculations, it is assumed that the proteins of snack foods are all digested at close to 100%, and the Amino Acid Score will not be corrected for the percent digested when referring to the amount of protein that can be counted as contributing to the Daily Intake of protein or the Daily Value (DV of protein).
Snack foods made from grains have insufficient Lysine to meet the requirements for high quality protein. The Amino Acid profiles of referenced snack foods and, in particular, the Essential Amino Acid profiles of referenced snack foods are taken from the USDA Database (2011). The Essential Amino Acid content from the USDA Database are compared to the FAO/WHO requirements in Table 2 to calculate the protein quality or Amino Acid Score which is then used to calculate the percentage of the snack food protein that can be counted as meeting the Daily Intake requirements. Table 3 shows the same snack foods listed in Table 1 and includes the protein content in grams per 28 gram serving, the Lysine content in mg per gram of protein, the Amino Acid Score and the amount of protein per serving of the snack that contributes to the Daily Intake of Protein.
Typical snack foods may contain 1 to 3 grams of protein per 28 gram serving based on the Amino Acid Score of the snack food. It is another intention of the patent to replace a fat based adhesive with one that contains sufficient high quality protein to raise the protein level of the snack food by at least 1 gram per 28 gram serving. An additional benefit is that the essential amino acids from the high quality proteins of the adhesive improve the overall quality of the protein in the snack composition. Thus, for most grain based snacks, each 1 gram of adhesive protein results in more than one additional gram of protein being added to the Daily Intake or Daily Value of protein per 28 gram serving of the snack with the improved adhesive.
As a demonstration of the nutrient proportions provided by each of the aforementioned USDA Reference snack foods, Table 4 shows the daily intake of Fat, Carbohydrate and Protein for one 28 g serving of the snack in both grams per serving and as a percentage of the Recommended Daily Intake for a person consuming 2000 calories per day. The Recommended Daily Intake amounts are 65 g of fat, 300 g of carbohydrate and 50 g of protein as shown at the bottom of Nutrition Facts panel on packaged food.
In Table 4, the USDA referenced snack foods provide 2% to 4% of the recommended daily intake of protein, 4% to 7% of the recommended daily intake of carbohydrate and 7% to 16% of the daily intake of fat. It is the intention of this invention to provide similar snack foods that have less fat and more protein that contributes to the recommended daily intake of protein.
High protein snack foods, such as those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,741,370, 7,691,430, 7,556,836, 6,830,768, 4,212,892 and others are made with wheat proteins and/or high quality proteins with the intention of providing the consumer with two to ten times more protein than a typical snack. Protein fortified snack foods that may have flavors or colors added to the surface of the snack would benefit from the present invention providing an additional amount of high quality protein in the form of an improved, low fat adhesive for the added flavors and colors.
Milk, egg, fish and animal hide extracts have been used to make adhesives for over 4000 years. These are water based protein containing adhesives that are used to join porous materials like wood or paper. The first commercial manufacturing of casein glue (a milk protein glue) was established in the late 18th century; see Ebnesajjad, Sina (2010). Casein glue is made by dispersing an acid precipitated milk protein, casein, into water and adding alkali to make a near neutral pH, soluble caseinate. The caseinate preparation may be applied to the surface of a number of porous materials forming an adhesive layer that will subsequently bind or adhere to another material. In a large compilation of adhesive technology by E. M. Petrie (2007) the word food is mentioned only once in over 750 pages and that reference is to the use of polyvinyl alcohol for food packaging.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,894,027 describes the coating of a dry breakfast cereal with milk and proteins in order to mimic cereal and milk when water is added to the food composition. The milk, proteins and other nutrients are powdered ingredients bound to the dry cereal surface with a water based adhesive composed of a water soluble member selected from the group consisting of maltodextrin, sodium alginates, propylene glycol alginates, guar gum, locust bean gum, gum Arabic, pectin, kappa carrageen, carboxymethylcellulose, methylcellulose, hydroxypropyl methylcellulose, xanthan, hydrocolloids, and mixtures thereof. The adhesive of U.S. Pat. No. 5,894,027 is composed of water and complex carbohydrates and does not teach that proteins can be used in a water based adhesive for binding other powdered ingredients to the cereal based composition or to snack foods.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,260,637 to Rispoli et al. describes an improvement in bread crumb coating on foods when proteins were first bound to the surface of the bread crumbs. The proteins were selected from the group consisting of whey protein, milk protein, soy isolate, gelatin, egg albumin, wheat gluten, and mixtures thereof. The protein is applied as a powder, not as a slurry, solution, emulsion or suspension. Furthermore, the powdered proteins were bound to the bread crumb surface using food oil as the adhesive. Although the proteins were reported to improve the binding of the bread crumbs to moistened foods, U.S. Pat. No. 4,260,637 does not teach about proteins being an adhesive for low moisture snack foods and does not teach about the added protein imparting a nutritional benefit to the food.
It is widely known that unbaked pretzels may be coated with an egg wash or a milk wash before adding the coarse salt seasoning. However, almost all of the commercial pretzel compositions include salt as an ingredient, but neither egg nor milk is included in the packaged food ingredient statements. Keeping the seasoning on a pretzel does not appear to require an egg or milk adhesive. The coarse salt likely binds to the moist surface of the parboiled pretzel dough, and during the subsequent baking process, the warm dough is the likely adhesive for salt and other seasonings. In contrast, this invention uses milk or a water based composition of high quality proteins as an adhesive for seasonings applied to low moisture snack foods including pretzels with an added nutritional benefit of improving the quantity and the quality of protein in the snack food. Pretzels (USDA reference 19047) contain almost three grams of protein per serving, but less than 50% of that protein can be counted as contributing to the Daily Intake of protein. Using this invention, the protein quality and the protein content of pretzels would both be increased.
Cheese might be considered an adhesive for binding two parts of a processed food together. In considering cheese as an adhesive, the standard process for making cheese, 21 CFR 133, requires lactobacilli to ferment, or convert a portion of the milk sugar to lactic acid. An enzyme is added so that certain peptide bonds of milk protein are broken with the release of a certain glycomacropeptide. The selective and limited hydrolysis of milk protein is catalyzed by the enzyme rennet or by chymosin, a unique bacterial enzyme that mimics the action of rennet. This enzyme treatment changes the milk proteins at a molecular level so that the modified milk proteins form a cohesive curd, sticking together and trapping milk fat, calcium phosphate and some of the carbohydrate in the cheese matrix. By contrast, the invention described here does not use a fermentation step and does not use rennet or chymosin to produce proteins suitable for binding color or flavor to snack foods.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,830,941 to L. R. Luft et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 8,697,159 to T. J. Nack et al. claim the use of an oil-in-water emulsion as a coating on snack foods. U.S. Pat. No. 3,830,941 uses low molecular weight mono- and diglycerides to form and stabilize the emulsion. As an option, the composition may also contain from 1% to 15% protein for stability and for flavor attributes. The proteins include non-fat milk, caseinate, whey, soy flour, soy concentrate, soy isolate, vegetable proteins, cottonseed protein and the like. The emulsion is made to include water soluble flavors and colors added to the water component of the emulsion, and the emulsion includes oil soluble flavors and colors added to the oil component of the emulsion. The flavors, colors and emulsion are applied as a single composition that is heated to form a dry coating on the snack food. In contrast, the present invention uses skim milk, homogenized low fat or whole milk and high quality proteins such as those from milk, egg and soy as an adhesive for binding powdered flavors and powdered colors that are added after the adhesive is first applied to the snack food. U.S. Pat. No. 3,830,941 does not teach that high quality proteins can add to the protein content of the snack and improve the protein quality of the snack. In contrast, the adhesive of the present invention is applied before powdered flavors and colors are applied and the intention of the present invention is to raise the quantity and quality of the protein in a typical snack food composition.
In U.S. Pat. No. 8,697,159 to T. J. Nack et al., describe an oil in water emulsion with water and oil soluble flavors and colors. U.S. Pat. No. 8,697,159 states that protein may optionally be added to an emulsion that is used to coat a food or an unflavored snack composition. The patent teaches that it may be required to add protein to the emulsion for functionality purposes such as aiding in emulsification and stability, providing the desired texture, and forming the desired film consistency, thickness, appearance, and to avoid blistering. Proteins of choice are whey protein and soy protein. As expressed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,830,941, and in contrast to the present invention, the coating composition of U.S. Pat. No. 8,697,159 has flavors and colors added to the wet emulsion rather than powdered flavors and colors being added to the food composition after first coating the food with an adhesive. U.S. Pat. No. 8,697,159 does not mention protein in any of the claims and does not teach that the protein content or the protein quality of the snack food can be improved.
US patent application 20080317907 is a method and apparatus for applying aqueous coating to cooked foods. The aqueous coating contains a film forming agent (claim 1) which is selected from the group consisting of carbohydrates and proteins (dependent claim 15). The aqueous coating also contains ingredients selected from the group of flavors, colors, fats emulsifiers, minerals, vitamins fiber and antioxidants. The water in the coating is flashed off by the latent heat within the food composition that is to be coated. The inventors state that flashing off the moisture produces a dry composition. The dry composition may be further treated with oil before applying dry flavors, colors, and seasonings. The patent application does not teach that protein ingredients added to milk or to an aqueous preparation can be used to bind powdered materials to the surface of a low moisture food or a snack food. In contrast to the present invention, patent application 20080317907 does not teach that proteins in the coating will reduce the fat, increase the protein content or increase the protein quality of the finished food.
The USDA and FAQ/WHO recommend that a typical adult daily diet of 2000 calories should include about 50 grams of protein which represents about 200 calories or about 10% of the total daily caloric intake from food. The daily intake of fat should be around 65 grams and the daily intake of carbohydrate is recommended to be around 300 grams. Foods that are relatively high in protein include beans, nuts, meat, eggs, and milk. It is also recommended that each meal should be balanced so that the daily intake of protein, fat and carbohydrate are evenly proportioned in each meal. Snacks can also be nutritionally balanced and follow the USDA guidelines. Consuming a snack of nuts and fruit, for instance, would provide a balance of protein, fat and carbohydrate. Some snack foods, like beverages with protein, fat and carbohydrates, or breakfast bars or foods categorized as nutrition bars are designed to provide calories from all three sources. However, typical snacks consist of confections, candies, baked goods, and savory snacks like chips, pretzels or puffed extrusions. These typical snacks are high in fat and carbohydrate and low in protein relative to the recommended daily intake of calories from protein, fat and carbohydrates. A typical snack either adds calories on top of the recommended daily caloric intake and the typical snack does not contain a proportional contribute to the daily consumption of protein.
Milk is a common ingredient found on the labels of a variety of snack foods. Milk is usually found on snack food labels as part of the flavoring. As examples and without limitation, Cheese flavor, Ranch flavor and Sour Cream flavor inherently contain milk as an ingredient. Snack foods using these flavors also must be labeled with milk as an ingredient. With milk as a component of a dry or powdered flavoring system, the milk proteins have no function in adhesion and provide only a small contribution to the nutritional value of the snack food protein. As a by-product of cheese making, powdered whey that has not been processed by ultra-filtration has a composition that is roughly 70% lactose and 12% protein. As a reference, powdered non-fat milk is roughly 50% lactose and around 35% protein. Whey is typically used as an ingredient in baked foods and snack foods to add dairy solids that may or may not contribute to functional aspects of the food during processing. Although the nutritional quality of whey protein is high, whey and whey powder are principally carbohydrate and when used as portion of a flavoring, the low level of protein has little effect on the overall quality of the snack protein. It is the purpose of this invention to demonstrate how milk, milk proteins, milk protein concentrates and whey protein concentrates can be used to reduce the fat content of snack foods and contribute to both the protein quantity and the protein nutritional value.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,551,544 to Borders et al. (2013) describes a protein based binder or coating system for particulate- and/or powder-type food systems. The only protein described with adhesive properties is wheat protein isolate. Other proteins may be added to the wheat protein isolate, but none are described as contributing to the binding or adhesive character of the mixture. Wheat protein isolate dispersed in water is used to coat some or all of the particulate or powdered ingredients so that all of the ingredients will bind together forming a cluster of particulates or a snack bar. Although '544 mentions the use of this wheat protein binder with powdered flavors and colors, the flavors and colors are part of the dry ingredients mixed together in food bars, snack pieces, and cereal clusters. There is no anticipation that the protein based binder system of '544 would find use in binding flavors and colors to the surface of solid snack foods like chips, crackers, pretzels, or puffed extrusions. Wheat protein isolate of '544 is an incomplete protein with a low content of Lysine and a PDCAAS of only about 32%. Unlike the invention described here, Wheat Protein Isolate and '544 does not and cannot raise the protein nutritional value of grain based or vegetable based snack foods.